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Qwest Ordered to Restore SkyWi Network ServicesALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Dec. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- In an emergency meeting held late Wednesday afternoon, the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) of the state of New Mexico ordered Qwest Communications to cease its efforts to disconnect services to SkyWi, Inc. and restore all previously disconnected services to SkyWi and its subsidiary companies, One Connect IP and Zianet. The PRC imposed a deadline upon Qwest of 8:00 AM on January 1, 2009 to restore these services. Qwest had begun shutting down the network of SkyWi, New Mexico's largest independently owned and operated ISP, in the overnight hours of the morning of December 30, leaving tens of thousands of customers without Internet and/or phone service. The customers affected include residential, business and government accounts in New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Texas. "This is a great result for our customers," stated Jack Leach, SkyWi's President. "I am pleased that Qwest's predatory practices and their efforts to drive us out of business were recognized by the Commissioners of the PRC. There is still a great deal of damage rendered to our customers' businesses by their actions, however, and we must now work very hard for our customers in order to rebuild their trust in our services and our company." On December 5, 2008, SkyWi filed a Complaint in federal court against Qwest, citing multiple claims of Qwest's predatory, anti-competitive and unfair trade practices and of its attempts to force SkyWi and One Connect IP/Zianet to close its operations as an Internet service provider (ISP) which compete directly with Qwest. The PRC, therefore, also placed a restraining order on Qwest from taking any action against SkyWi until a decision has been rendered in federal court on SkyWi's request for a preliminary injunction. A hearing is presently scheduled for January 13, 2009. "We made a reasonable and fair offer to Qwest to avoid interruption of services until these hearings took place. But that offer was refused by Qwest," explains Leach. "They left us no alternative but to seek help in order to protect our customers from further damage to their businesses. Even so, the repercussions of an interruption on this scale will be felt for quite some time." SkyWi is headquartered in Albuquerque, NM and maintains offices in Las Cruces, NM; Fort Worth, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; Boise, ID; and Idaho Falls, ID. About SkyWi, Inc. SkyWi builds, owns, and operates a facilities-based, state-of-the-art, rural and suburban Internet services business. The company focuses on delivering enterprise-class broadband services, carrier-class reliability, and superior customer service to areas traditionally overlooked and neglected by major national carriers and service providers. SkyWi, Inc. CONTACT: Jack Leach, President of SkyWi, Inc., +1-302-463-7707 Web site: http://www.skywi.com/ |